Freedom and Equality are not toxic words

Are you sick of Fill-in-time-Goff, but you
can't stand Tamahore or Liability-Lorde
either?

There are other options out there -
including ACT candidate Glen
Snelgar

Greetings! My name is Glen Snelgar, and I
am an old school liberal. I believe in the traditional ideas
of freedom, equality and humanity
popularised by classical liberals, such as Jeremy Bentham,
John Locke, John Stuart Mill, and Adam Smith. Voltaire’s
twentieth century biographer said it best when she said:

I disapprove of what you say, but I will
defend to the death your right to say it - Evelyn
Beatrice Hall

We have lost that pure notion
of freedom of speech, and today many of those who advocate
for freedom of speech are denounced as misogynists, bigots,
or racists.

Not all Freedom Hawks are
racist!

I grew up in Auckland, and my ancestors
have been living in Auckland since 1841. I am of British and
Irish stock, but I have expanded my horizons and spent many
years living overseas where I was personally subjected to
racism from foreign nationals.

I recently returned home
to Auckland, and I brought back my wife and kids, who were
all born overseas. Since we have been back in New Zealand,
my family has been subjected to racist abuse by Kiwis. My
kids used to give all their pocket money to the homeless
people on the streets until they were accosted by a violent
and racist homeless person. Now they are afraid to approach
strangers. They used to enjoy school, but now they are
afraid of bullying. I have more reason than most to oppose
hate speech.

Perhaps I should join the ranks of the
left-wing loonies and demand hate speech laws and muzzling
of oafish brutes in the street, but I’m not.

Why do I believe in freedom?

Freedom
is the most important value that we have in our society. It
beats out economic wellbeing and mental health, because
those who abuse freedom can have a significantly detrimental
effect on society as a whole. As much as I would love to
protect my family from that kind of trauma and bad vibes,
hurt feelings are somehow less important when compared with
extra-judicial killings, administrative detention,
censorship, corruption, and bad governance.

Freedom isn’t free

We are lucky
to live in a free society, but freedom doesn’t come cheap.
My ancestors fought to protect those values, and I will go
down fighting the same battles. Whether it may be people
booing my speeches, cutting off my microphone, or just
telling me I am not allowed to offer an opinion because I am
a white male and therefore I am responsible for everything
that is wrong in the world.

Limits to
freedom

Whenever I stand up for free speech, the
odd heckler will always shout out that we already have
limits on free speech so there is a precedent. Precedent is
precedent exactly because it has been through the laborious
process of lawyers and judges and expert witnesses arguing
over what should happen in any given case. The fact that no
existing laws can adequately deal with the situation is
exactly the reason for creating a new precedent. Therefore,
by definition, what these loonies are proposing has no
precedent.

If I yell out “Fire” in a crowded building
and someone gets trampled to death, then I am responsible
for that harm. If I start a riot or engage in a criminal
conspiracy, then those words create harm that I am
responsible for. These are the objective consequences that
organically follow the use of those words.

However, if I
say that I don’t like people with freckles, then nothing
happens. I am just expressing an opinion that is no
different to if I say that I don’t like your cooking, or I
don’t like you. Of course, there is the potential for the
listener to get offended, or maybe not. That is the problem
with offence – it is subjective. A reasonable person may
get offended or just brush off the comment and carry on with
their day.

Who judges subjective
offence?

The trouble with the twenty-first
century political correctness is that certain sections of
society are proclaiming themselves to be the only valid
judges of what constitutes free speech, and other groups in
society are expected to follow these determinations. This is
problematic if you happen to be in one of those social
groups that are always getting judged. If we were to believe
what the left wing loonies are saying in the media, then
white males are responsible for everything that has gone
wrong in western society. Is it any wonder that white males
are now expressing dissatisfaction with the whole idea of
political correctness? That does not make us misogynists,
bigots, or racists. It makes us modern day victims of those
in power.

Should we
provide a platform to anyone who wants to offend
others?

Free speech is only truly free if the
same rights apply to anyone no matter what they have said
before or plan to say next. Facilities that were paid for by
Aucklanders should be available for all Aucklanders to use.
The situation that we have today is one in which a Mayor
with all the power in Auckland gets to decide who can have
freedom in this city.

There is a current court case
regarding two speakers from Canada who were banned from
using a platform that they paid for to make a speech on
their views. Actually, I had no idea who these Canadians
were before the Mayor tried to ban them (so he just gave
them a lot of free publicity and cost Aucklanders a lot of
money in court fees). My first question was, “Are they
Aucklanders?”

The more I learned about them, the more
scared for our future I became. Here is an example of two
guests invited to speak at a venue arranged and paid for by
their supporters and not open to the public. A group of
protestors decided that they didn’t like what these
speakers planned to say, so they threatened to gate-crash
the party and commit violent acts. None of these protestors
are in jail for threatening violence.

Instead, the Mayor
cancelled the event and banned the two Canadian speakers
from ever speaking again at an Auckland Council venue. Of
course, the Mayor now claims that he has never had the power
to ban anyone. But he did it, and out of the other side of
his face he has been taking credit for the whole situation.
You only need to view his Tweets from the time to see proof
of that. I have attached them below so he can’t delete
them.

Freedom is okay if you are a member of a
minority racial group, a feminist, a member of the ROYGBIV
community, or a vegan.

Earlier this month, some
vegan protestors took over a supermarket in St Lukes. Many
shoppers became angry because the protestors were blocking
them from buying meat and making a commotion. In this case,
these protestors weren’t just exercising their rights to
free speech, but they were physically obstructing the
freedom of movement of others for a political purpose –
which is in itself a form of violence.

Now, imagine if
one of those shoppers became angry and struck one of the
protestors. Who would be in the wrong?

Of course, we can
all see that the one committing the violent act is in the
wrong and should be punished. So how could it be that those
protesting against the Canadian speakers and committing
obvious crimes are allowed to go free, while the Canadians
were sent back to Canada?

This issue is going to be with
us for a long time, because people from all walks of life
have got involved to resist this obvious abuse of power. Not
one of us is a misogynist, bigot, or racist. We are just
concerned and afraid that we live in a kind of Twilight Zone
where freedom and equality are treated like toxic words
while certain groups get to be more equal and
more free than others. That makes other groups
less equal and less free than the rest, so we
are creating a new underclass to be discriminated
against.

Join the Scoop Citizen Community

20 years of independent publishing is a milestone, but your support is essential to keep Scoop thriving. We are building on our offering with thedig.nz our new In-depth Engaged Journalism platform. Now, more than ever sustainable financial support of the Scoop Foundation for Public Interest Journalism will help to keep these vital and participatory media services running.
Find out more and join us:

“Fascist” is one of those labels with the ability to capsize any debate. Call your opponents “fascists” – or “agitators” or “terrorists” or “scum” and you’ve taken the option of mutual respect and compromise off the table. Interesting then to see the ( paywalled) Washington Post seriously debating with itself yesterday over whether… Hmm, is it now finally time to bring out the f-word in connection with the presidency of Donald J. Trump, and with his enablers in the Republican Party..? More>>

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says there will still be strict controls on the border, but all current rules and restrictions on businesses and services will be "essentially lifted" under alert level 1.She said the lower alert level would also put an end to restrictions for hospitality businesses, and gatherings - including funerals and tangihanga - of any size could take place..... More>>

Whatever the failings of our own politicians, spare a kind thought for the majority of Americans who did not vote for Donald Trump. Sure, it was depressing this week to watch Todd Muller clinging for dear life to his talking points on Q&A, ... More>>

“Today and every day we stand in solidarity with George Floyd’s family, friends and community who feel pain and fear about his untimely death at the hands of Minneapolis police”, said Green Party Co-leader and Māori Development spokesperson Marama ... More>>

Decisions on the Action for Healthy Waterways package are supported by comprehensive environmental and economic impact analysis by leading New Zealand research institutes, universities, and private sector firms. More>>

National Party Leader Todd Muller has announced the line-up of the next Government. “New Zealand is facing perhaps the toughest time that almost anyone alive can remember. “We are borrowing tens of billions of dollars to get us through this crisis. There ... More>>

Congratulations. You are one of the 55 members of the National caucus being called together tomorrow to choose who will lead you to either (a) catastrophic or (b) honourable defeat on September 19, thereby saving some (but not all) of the jobs currently on the line. Good luck. Your decision process starts NOW... More>>

ALSO:

The Coalition Government has confirmed five Lockheed Martin C-130J-30 Super Hercules transport aircraft will be purchased to replace the existing fleet, Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. More>>

ALSO:

The New Zealand Order of Merit The Queen has been pleased, on the occasion of the celebration of Her Majesty's Birthday, to make the following appointments to The New Zealand Order of Merit: DNZM To be Dames Companion of the said Order: Distinguished ... More>>

A jobseekers programme for the creative sector and four new funds have been set up by the Government to help our arts and music industry recover from the blow of COVID-19. Thousands of jobs will be supported through today’s $175 million package ... More>>

In this time of impending economic and ecological crises, we urgently need to aim for a sustainable or ‘steady state’ economy. In order to get there, we will need to adopt a ‘systems-thinking’ outlook taking into account the interconnections of our complex world.

The Green Party is pleased to reveal its candidate list for the upcoming election. With a mix of familiar faces and fresh new talent, this exceptional group of candidates are ready to lead the Greens back into Government. Using the most democratic list ... More>>

There is a fast growing movement in New Zealand that has been happening out in paddocks, fields, gardens and hill country across the nation. It is a movement that holds the promise to reshape our productive land use industries towards systems that work with the natural environment to regenerate the land. The movement is that of regenerative agriculture. More>>

The Ministry of Health has today formally released the NZ COVID Tracer app to support contact tracing in New Zealand. Kiwis who download the app will create a digital diary of the places they visit by scanning QR codes displayed at the entrances to ... More>>